However, Kelvin wasn't the one who sent his kid to school, and he also wasn't in the parent-teacher group chat. He still had to discuss this matter with his wife. So, as soon as he got home that day, he brought it up with her.
His wife, Abigail Lawson, frowned when she heard his devious plan. "I don't understand you. Why must you go and make things hard for him? Isn't it beneficial for us to have someone we know at his preschool?"
Kelvin never thought that his own wife would oppose his idea like this. He got so mad that his eyes turned red as he screamed at her, "What would you know, you lazy, stupid housewife?
"Do you know how much pressure I'm facing at the company? Do you know how many business transactions that bastard Dean stole from me?
"You don't fucking know anything! All you know is shopping, makeup, and designer bags! How dare you tell me what to do!"
Abigail didn't work and had no income, so she usually relied on her husband for a living. She couldn't refute what Kelvin said, so she could only remain quiet and bear with his outburst.
When Kelvin saw that Abigail was hanging her head with an aggrieved look on her face and not being able to talk back to him, he felt slightly relieved of his frustrations.
Feeling better about himself, Kelvin didn't continue yelling at Abigail anymore. Instead, he lit up a cigarette and started to smoke.
Abigail felt aggrieved and frustrated. So, she went and complained to her best friend, who worked at a financial security company. The best friend had then told her colleagues about it, and one of her colleagues happened to be Jared's client, so he also passed the information along.
When Jared received the news, he figured that something was terribly wrong with Kelvin. So, he went to Dean and said, "I think Kelvin is planning to get your boyfriend fired."
Dean kept quiet when he heard the news. However, Jared could feel his hackles rising from a sudden chill in the room.
Corbyn hadn't been idle the whole time, either. He'd gotten someone to find out who had been the one smearing Dean online and managed to trace it back to Kelvin easily. After learning that Kelvin was behind it, he immediately got worried about Dean's situation.
He asked Dean, "Do you know who's the person who exposed you online?"
Dean answered faintly, "It should be Kelvin."
Corbyn was astounded that Dean managed to get it right on the first try. "How did you know it was him?"
"A hunch," Dean answered.
Corbyn was stunned beyond words. He really didn't know what to say in return.
Dean looked a lot calmer than Corbyn, even though his reputation had been the one at stake.
Still, Corbyn wasn't the type to remain calm in situations like this. Even Dean's calm demeanor didn't manage to take away from Corbyn's wrath.
"Since he's the one who started being mean, I'm going to retaliate," he told Dean. "I'll teach him a lesson!"
Dean still looked as nonchalant as ever. "What do you mean by retaliating?"
Corbyn froze. Then, he shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't thought of anything yet."
A frustrated look then appeared on Corbyn's face. It looked like he was thinking about the worst types of capital punishments and which one was the most suitable for Kelvin.
"Stop getting so worked up over him," Dean said. "He's not worth it. You don't have to retaliate."
Corbyn laughed in frustration. "You've got the temperance and patience of a saint, but I'm not going to let him off the hook just like that!"
After saying those words, Corbyn suddenly realized that he sounded a lot harsher than he should. It was contradictory to his innocent act with Dean.
He hurriedly softened his tone and said, "Deanie, it's obvious that he's targeting you. If you tolerate him now, he's going to continue walking all over your head!"
"Who said I was going to tolerate him?" Dean asked, puzzled. "I just said that you didn't need to get so worked up over him."
Corbyn still didn't fully understand what Dean meant.
From what he understood, Dean was saying, "Stop getting so worked up over him and forgive him this once."
However, what Dean had truly meant was, "Stop getting so worked up over him, because I'm going to properly fuck him over."
And when Dean told Corbyn that he didn't have to retaliate, Corbyn thought Dean meant, "You don't have to retaliate. You shouldn't hurt him."
But Dean had meant something completely different. He meant, "You don't have to retaliate. I will destroy him on your behalf."
…
A few days later, Dean reported Kelvin for rat trading, which meant he was illegally using private information from the company for his personal gains. Kelvin had been apprehended at once.
Kelvin wasn't likely to be jailed even if he was sentenced, as he'd be out on bail. However, he would have to pay back every single penny he made, and he'd also be banned from the trading industry for a lifetime.
In other words, Kelvin didn't just lose his job. He had also lost his entire future.
Dean had long realized that something was amiss with Kelvin's behavior. Kelvin was someone with an inflated ego who had to drive the biggest car, wear the most expensive clothes, dine at the most expensive restaurants, and own the biggest house on the block.
Kelvin's wife was a full-time housewife with no income, yet she was decked head to toe in designer clothing all the time. Kelvin also bought toddler clothes from Burberry for his son and sent him to the most expensive preschool in the area.
There was no way Kelvin could afford such a lavish lifestyle with the figure he was earning every month.
However, Dean wasn't a nosy person who took an interest in other people's lives, so he hadn't paid much attention to Kelvin's weird behavior. He hadn't even cared as much when Kelvin discreetly made things hard for him at work.
But, when Dean learned that Kelvin was planning to attack Corbyn next, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Kelvin had touched a nerve, and there was no turning back.
Dean had always had a mild temper and rarely ever got angry. However, since Kelvin managed to make a mild-mannered person like Dean angry, then he was about to learn what Dean's true wrath was like.
Corbyn was still confused when he read about Kelvin's arrest. It still hadn't occurred to him that Dean had been the one who reported him to the authorities.
After all, Corbyn still thought that Dean was a meek, patient, and indifferent person who didn't care about office politics. He never thought that Dean would report his own colleague and fuck him up like this.
Corbyn couldn't help asking Dean, "Did you really do this to him?"
Dean answered, "I didn't do this to him. He did this to himself."
Corbyn was still reeling from the shock. Dean usually had a laid-back behavior toward everything, but once he had his heart set on revenge, he delivered his blows deftly and brutally, with no room for regret. It was astonishing.
"I thought you'd be a little more merciful toward him, considering you've both been colleagues for a few years," Corbyn answered after a pause.
Dean just replied, "I can be this merciless if I want to."
He still spoke in a mild manner. However, his words were heavy and oppressive.
Very quickly, the media reported about Kelvin's rat trading case, and the entire industry was ablaze with gossip. Of course, the company's reputation was also affected.
When David learned that Dean was the one who reported Kelvin, he was rather taken aback as well.
Dean was usually such a meek and indifferent person. There had to be a reason for him to suddenly take interest in his colleague's wrongdoings and make such a big fuss about it.
David called Dean into his office. He asked him with a smile, "I heard that you were the one who reported Kelvin."
Dean nodded and answered seriously. "It was me. No need to thank me for getting rid of a rat in the company."
David was rendered speechless. He suddenly had the urge to hit Dean in the head, but he held it in. "Well, thank you very much, all the same!"
"You're welcome," Dean replied.
David nearly choked on his breath.
Dean then asked, "Is there anything else?"
David stared at him and thought, "I've been in this field for dozens of years and have never come across such an infuriating employee like him. Does he not know who signs his paychecks?"
David had been the regional CEO for more than 20 years, so he was now completely out of touch with his employees' plight. To him, nothing was more important than managing the company, and the biggest obstacle was his employees' insubordination.
Nonetheless, David could still put up with Dean's level of insubordination. The first reason was that Dean was usually an obedient employee who was just bad at social cues. The second and most important reason was that Dean would always excel in whatever tasks that were given to him.
Since Dean had a very strong track record of getting things done with the most exceptional outcome, David was therefore also exceptionally tolerant with him.
David just smiled, deciding not to pursue Kelvin's case any further. He knew that it was useless talking office politics to someone as technical and robotic as Dean.
If Dean were really interested in office politics, with his skills and abilities, he would have already been promoted to director instead of being content with just being a manager like now.
In actual fact, employers like David liked hard-working yet socially indifferent people like Dean. These people were highly capable of getting things done, but they weren't ambitious. So, they could simply be treated as very convenient "tools" for the company.
Weren't all workers company tools anyway? What mattered most to employers was that they had handy tools ready at all times.
David continued chatting with Dean for a while. He said, "Since taking over your spot as a regular on the TV program, Sylvia has now become a mini celebrity too. Her performance has been skyrocketing. She'll most probably surpass you soon."
From what David had said, anyone could tell that he was trying to instill a sense of danger in Dean. Other normal employees would probably start getting competitive, but Dean wasn't any normal employee. He didn't seem the least bit affected. "Oh, then, congratulations to her."
David had initially been worried that there would be some bad blood between Dean and Sylvia because of that. However, he could see now that Dean was truly robotic with his emotions.
Dean felt no need to be competitive or envious of his colleagues. For a moment, David didn't know if he should feel relieved or worried.
Also, ever since Sylvia took over Dean's spot on the financial TV program, she had become more widely-known because of her knowledge and her beauty. Her performance was indeed skyrocketing as well.
However, that meant that she was also getting a lot busier by the day. She'd just been assigned a new assistant, Anson Rothbart, but he only seemed to double her workload instead of lightening it.
He would always ask her all sorts of stupid questions. "Ms. Lambert, what's the project budget for this seven-million-dollar-budget project?"
"…Seven million dollars."
"Ms. Lambert, what's the last name of the chairman of Stanton Group?"
"…Stanton."
"Ms. Lambert, what's…"
Sylvia found her temper teetering on the edge of exploding. Still, she had to hold it in because Anson was David's only son. She dared not vent out her anger on him. So, she smiled sweetly at Anson and said, "I'm a little tired. Could you please make a cup of coffee for me?"
"Sure, no problem!"
Anson then went to the office pantry, leaving Sylvia with a temporary sense of relief.
However, Anson soon returned quickly with a mug of coffee for her. Sylvia glanced at the pitch-black coffee and asked, "Where's the milk and sugar?"
Anson looked surprised. "Ms. Lambert, I thought you were a refined woman of dignity with a good taste who'd only drink espresso instead of those fake, impure, and unorthodox fancy coffee wannabes…"
As Anson continued blabbering, Sylvia felt more and more aroused with anger. Still, no matter how "aroused" Sylvia got, she still had to find a way to diffuse it. Anson was still David's only son and only child, for that matter.
The more she thought of this, the more she felt pity for David. David was such a smart and capable financial elite, yet his only heir turned out to be daft.
Sylvia realized that she couldn't put up with Anson any longer. So, she decided to transfer him over to Dean instead.
Although Dean looked cold and unapproachable, he was actually quite reasonable. Sylvia suggested exchanging assistants with him, and he found no reason to object.
To him, it didn't matter who was assigned to him as long as they did their job well.
In all honesty, Sylvia had an ulterior motive for wanting to exchange assistants with Dean.
Last time, when Dean was made the company mascot because of the TV show, David told him that he would be promoted to director at the end of the year.
But now that she was the company mascot instead of him, and she was also performing quite well, would that mean she would also be in the running for the promotion?
If Dean got on David's bad side, then the director position would most definitely belong to her.
Sylvia thought that Dean was bad at social cues and probably wouldn't be able to get along well with Anson. So, if Dean were to offend David's precious son, then wouldn't that mean she'd have a bigger chance at being the director instead of Dean?
Sylvia got her new assistant to make her a fresh cup of fancy coffee. After taking a sip of the milky, sugary drink, she suddenly felt a lot happier.
However, she couldn't help recalling how Anson told her that refined women only drank espresso. She wanted to puke just thinking about it.
She took her latte with her and went over to Dean's place, wanting to see how Anson was going to make a fool of himself before Dean.
The other people in the office were also curious about the new arrangement. They were eager to see how the dumb assistant was going to anger the cold, emotionless Dean.
However, things were a lot more peaceful there than they had anticipated.
The only reason why Anson had been labeled as annoying was that he liked asking dumb, obvious questions. However, dumb questions like those didn't bother Dean at all. In fact, Dean would just answer all of Anson's questions calmly and robotically without losing his patience.
Also, Dean was fine with drinking espresso.
David realized that Anson was now Dean's assistant, so he came over to check on them. When probed, Dean just answered objectively, "Anson doesn't have a high IQ and his learning ability is below average. He isn't fit for this industry."
Despite being lenient with Dean, David still got angry hearing Dean criticize Anson like that. He said, "He doesn't have a high IQ? You mean it's as bad as your EQ?"
Dean answered, "Probably worse than that."
David found himself balling his hands into fists.
From a certain point of view, Sylvia's plan to use Anson to get Dean to offend David had worked. However, she never thought that Anson would eventually develop a crush on Dean.
Sylvia, Jared, and Dean were considered quite close colleagues at work and often had lunch together. Anson would tag along as well, and his eyes would be full of admiration for Dean throughout the meal.
Also, Anson would only serve Dean by pouring glasses of water for him, passing him the napkins, and completely ignoring Sylvia and Jared who were there.
Anson was simply being too obvious with his crush on Dean. Both Sylvia and Jared exchanged knowing glances with each other.
Nonetheless, Dean was oblivious to all of these, as always. He just went about his daily life as if nothing had happened.
Sylvia even complained privately to Jared once. "I think Dean should change his name to 'Dead.'"
Jared was puzzled. "Why?"
Sylvia chuckled with a hand over her mouth. "Because his emotions are as good as dead anyway."
Jared rolled his eyes and laughed. He waved his hand at her and said, "I never thought you'd be the kind to make cynical jokes like this."
Sylvia then asked, "Do you think Anson knows that Dean has a boyfriend? If he knows, do you think he'll still continue pursuing Dean like he is now?"
Jared clicked his tongue when he heard this. "It's got nothing to do with us, so we shouldn't need to worry about it."
Jared thought of Dean as their friend and ally at work. Also, Anson was their boss' son, which made the relationship far more sensitive and complicated than expected. It wouldn't be good for any of them if they got involved, so it was best if they stayed out of it.
Meanwhile, Sylvia had a different train of thought. She wasn't content with just being a fund manager like Jared was. She was vying for the director position, and she thought of Dean as her current biggest rival. It would benefit her the most if Dean got himself into huge trouble.
Naturally, Anson's crush on Dean was exactly the type of trouble she needed for her to get the better of him.
…
Corbyn had no idea that his boyfriend was now the subject of someone else's crush. He also didn't know that Dean was also now a target of his own long-time colleague.
He was just about to resign from his position at the preschool.
For the past few years, while Dean had been steadily rising in the ranks from being a financial analyst to a celebrity fund manager, Corbyn had kept himself busy as well.
He had taken turns working at the high schools, middle schools, and preschools under Bloomberg Group. Now, his mother, Veronica Bloomberg, had told him that it was time he returned to the headquarters as an executive of the management team.
After leaving the preschool, Corbyn took a few days off to rest at home and prepare for his big return as "Mr. Bloomberg Jr.", the potential heir to the group. While he was preparing his documents, his phone lit up with a message from Paxton.
"Your boyfriend doesn't seem to care about your career path, does he? Doesn't he find it weird that you're teaching at high schools one second and at preschools the next? And that you're suddenly going back as the heir of a huge company?"
Corbyn drew his lips in a thin line. He replied, "That just means he respects my freedom and personal space."
In truth, Corbyn knew that Dean had absolutely no idea that he'd been changing jobs that often. Dean only knew that Corbyn was a Yinglish teacher. He knew nothing else about Corbyn's job, and he never asked about it either.
Corbyn sighed and put his phone away. Just then, he heard someone ringing the doorbell.
"Who'd that be at this time of the day?" Corbyn asked, puzzled. Still, he went to answer the door.
Standing outside the door was a young man who couldn't be any older than 20. The young man stared disdainfully at Corbyn while giving him a once-over, making Corbyn feel uncomfortable. The hostility in the young man's eyes was obvious for anyone to see.
"Who are you?" Corbyn asked.
"My name is Anson Rothbart," he answered.
Corbyn frowned. "Who?" He couldn't recall any Anson Rothbarts from his memory.
Meanwhile, Anson had heard about Corbyn from Sylvia. So, he tried digging for some more information about Corbyn from other people and learned that Corbyn was Dean's lazy, good-for-nothing leech of a boyfriend who relied wholly on Dean for food, clothing, and shelter.
Anson hated leeches like him. They reminded him of the cunning women who kept seducing his father.
However, it never crossed Anson's mind that he was now acting exactly like the mistresses who'd forced his mother into desolation.
Anson had already categorized Corbyn as a mistress, similar to those mistresses that David kept seeing. So, the disdain in his eyes increased tenfold as he screamed domineeringly at Corbyn, "I'll give you a million dollars if you'll leave Dean Hoffman alone!"
Corbyn was completely taken aback. "What?"
